So you want to start a podcast? First off, you made the right choice. I’m biased obviously, but I love podcasts as a medium. You can be driving, running, or relaxing around the house, and you can consistently be learning. And you can learn about anything. Want to learn about a murder committed in the 1970s that you’ve never heard of, but is CRAZY? Well there’s a podcast for that. Hoping to get into mediation more deeply? There’s a podcast for that. Or maybe you’re a millennial who wants to learn more about personal finance, adulting, and entrepreneurialism, then there’s OBVIOUSLY a podcast about that.
But what’s your podcast going to be? For the sake of this podcast, I’m going to assume you already have an idea, and we’re not going to go too deeply on what your podcast should be about, but my only advice is that you make sure you do it on something you’re passionate about. It makes it way more fun, and if you find it interesting, there’s almost a guarantee that someone else will too.
But let’s get down to it. There are a few things you need to start a podcast, and we have suggestions on all of them:
Website
You need a website first and foremost. You probably have some experience with what it’s like to build a website, and believe me, there’s a million ways to do it. So what’s the best way?
Squarespace
There’s the already-made, less customizable, ready-to-go websites like Squarespace. Now this is what I would suggest for anyone who doesn’t want to spend much time making a website. And plus, you’re a podcast. You don’t need a super flashy, crazy website–you need a website that gets your content out there and displays your brand. I think Squarespace does a good job at that AND has plenty of podcast templates. It’s also pretty easy to publish your rss feed and get your podcast off the ground a bit faster.
WordPress
For the ambitious out there who want a bit more control on their podcast, there’s also WordPress. Through WordPress you can have more choices and a lot of customization options. You’re basically building it yourself. There’s unlimited plug-ins, templates, and tools to help build a successful podcast through WordPress, BUT it takes more work.
FULL DISCLOSURE: we started with a website on WordPress because John wanted to learn how to build a website. Long story short, it sucked, so we ended up paying someone (Jon Matar) to help us make one. When we did that, however, it made it so much easier for the developer to convert our website because we already had content on WordPress they could use.
If I could go back and do it all again, I would have done Squarespace to start, and then when we had more money, paid someone to build us one on WordPress. Squarespace is just an easy way to have something that looks gorgeous immediately, easily, and cheaply. Soapbox over.
Equipment
Microphone
There’s a million options here for microphones. Remember, your audio is now the only thing you have, so it’s definitely worth it to have good equipment, but don’t overthink it. If you have great content, you’ll catch a break.
But for microphones, there’s the cheapest option: your iPhone or Android (you’d actually be surprised at how great the audio is on phones), and then there’s the most expensive option: the Heil PR 40 Dynamic Studio Recording Microphone. But you don’t have to blow the bank to get studio-grade equipment. Drunken Money swears by the Audio-Technica ATR2100-USB Cardioid Dynamic USB/XLR Microphone . These are great, offer professional grade audio, not too expensive, and plug directly into your computer via usb. Super simple.
Hardware
Once you have the recording equipment, many people will tell you that you now need a setup to plug your mics into, where you can mash and mix and mess with the sound, but honestly, you can do a lot on your computer. We have a usb splitter that gives you extra usb ports, so we can get three mics plugged in at once, but then all the audio collects on the machine.
Software
Again, LOTS of options out there, but since this is Drunken Money, we always go with the best bang for our buck. For all of our podcasts, we use Garageband, the native audio mixer on all Macs. There’s another GREAT application called Audacity. I don’t know how it’s free because it is SO great, and honestly, it’s probably what Drunken Money should be using…
Podcast hosting
There are two big players out there when it comes to podcast hosting: Libsyn and Blubrry. Both of these have monthly pricing, easy publishing, and plugins that work with wordpress and website templates super easily. To be honest, it doesn’t REALLY matter what you pick, but FULL DISCLOSURE, we go with Libsyn, and we’ve been nothing but happy (we originally used Soundcloud, but it didn’t give us as many stats as we wanted).
Logos, Design, Intros, etc
This is where you get to have some marketing fun and branding!
Logos
You probably know a few friends right know who could design you an awesome logo, and we strongly encourage this (but make sure you pay full price for someone’s work – we, at Drunken Money, are all about saving money, but we’re also about supporting friends and family and MAKING money. If someone is taking the time to make you a logo, you NEED to pay them for their services. You don’t want to show up on /r/choosingbeggars!)
There’s also tons of options online if you don’t know any graphic designers. Drunken Money used a website called www.40dollarlogo.com. Pretty straight forward obviously. There’s also Fiverr, where you can get ANYTHING done. It’s a pretty cheap freelance website with awesome people.
Podcast Intro
Again, you can have as much fun here as you want, but you have to get soemthing that perfectly introduces your brand, makes sense, and sounds a bit professional. We used Fiverr for this. We found someone who makes podcast intros for a living, gave her a script, and now we have the intro you, our listener, hear on every podcast. We love it.
Guests/content
Once you have an idea and the equipment, you can publish anything you want, but now it’s time to get some content and guests. You’d be surprised how willing people are to come on your show. Whatever it is, people love talking about themselves (myself included), so giving them an option to share their story and knowledge with a wide audience makes finding guests easy. The key to having a successful podcast is having big names, and then having THEM repost it. That’s it. But in reality, you’re not going to have Jennifer Lawrence on your show tomorrow, so start small, and eventually, you’ll get a big name that will want to help you out.
Conclusion
Starting a podcast was one of the best decisions I ever made. It all started with a drunken evening with a buddy I met networking, but it’s turned into something that I love doing every week. I get to meet so many people, learn more about EVERYTHING, and of course have a few drinks.
I cannot stress enough: if you’re thinking about starting a podcast, just do it. It doesn’t’t have to perfect. You have the rest of your life to make it perfect. But the more you wait, the further behind you’ll always be from the early adopters.
